Nicole Tully is an American middleand long-distance runner.
Background
Born to Ken Schappert and Jane Ackerman, Tully grew up in a sporting family. Her father has competed nationally in middle-distance running and for Villanova University, while was an National Collegiate Athletic Association finalist for the school in swimming. Tully grew up in Delray Beach, Florida and won state titles in running while attending Pope John Paul II High School briefly attended Wake Forest University but, dissatisfied with her running development, transferred to her parent"s alma mater.
Education
Wake Forest University. Rutgers University.
Career
She holds best of 4:05.89 minutes for the 1500 meters and 15:05.58 minutes for the 5000 meters. She ran middle-distance for Villanova University and was an National Collegiate Athletic Association All-American in 2011. She represented the United States at the Universiade in 2013.
Early life and college running Running for the Villanova Wildcats under coach Gina Procaccio, in her freshman year Tully placed sixth in the 1500 meters at the Atlantic Coast Conference championships.
She was in the top thirty at the 2009 National Collegiate Athletic Association Women"s Division I Cross Country Championship and was fifth in the Big East Conference championships over 1500 m. She enjoyed her most successful collegiate season during her last year at Villanova in 2011.
She was twice runner-up in Big East competition (1000 m indoors, 1500 m outdoors) and came sixth at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Women"s Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships over 3000 meters. After graduation Tully began studying for a masters in communication at Rutgers University and also continued running.
In 2011 she improved her 1500 m best to 4:10.02 minutes and had her first national placing at the United States 5K Championships, coming seventh.
She ranked tenth nationally in the 1500 m at both the United States of America Indoor Track and Field Championships and the United States Olympic Trials. By the end of the season she had knocked three seconds off her best, recording 4:06.87 minutes in Italy. Professional Tully failed to make the national finals in 2013 but made her international debut at the Summer Universiade and made the 1500 m final, placing eighth.
In her first appearance on the major international track circuit, she set a 3000 m best of 8:55.48 minutes to place tenth at the adidas Grand Prix in New New York
Working with Frank Gagliano at NJNY Track Club, she began to run over longer distances in 2015, starting with a fourth-place finish over two miles at the 2015 United States of America Indoor Track and Field Championships. Nicole ran 4:11.65 in the 1500 m beating Marielle Hall in Princeton.
She ran her first 5000 meters at the Payton Jordan Invitational in May and surprised by taking third in a time of 15:05.58 minutes – this met the qualifying standard for the national team and was over 25 seconds faster than she anticipated before the race. Tully ran 2016 Olympic standard in 1500 metres (4:0589) in Heusden, Belgium 18 July 2015.
Tully finished the 2015 year ranked 25th in the world in 5000 metres after finishing 14th in the 5000 m 2015 IAAF World Championships.
Outdoor 800 meters – 2:02.86 minimum (2012) 1500 meters – 4:05.89 minimum (2015) Mile run – 4:30.65 minimum (2012) 3000 meters – 8:55.48 minimum (2014) 5000 meters – 15:05.58 minimum (2015) Indoor 1500 meters – 4:12.33 minimum (2015) Mile run – 4:31.34 minimum (2015) 3000 meters – 9:00.84 minimum (2014) Two miles – 9:39.38 minimum (2015) United States of America Outdoor Track and Field Championships.